Five centuries after expulsion at pain of death, Spain grants citizenship to Sephardic Jews

Descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in the Inquisition of 1492 celebrate
right to citizenship but Muslims whose ancestors were later kicked out
complain of double standards

A sculpture of Samuel Halevi Abulafia and a Spanish flag near the "El Transito" synagogue and Sephardic Museum in ToledoPhoto: Alamy

By James Badcock, Madrid

6:00AM BST 20 Jun 2015

A century ago, Marcelo Benveniste’s four Jewish grandparents emigrated from the Greek island of Rhodes to Argentina. Unlike many new arrivals on far-flung shores, they had little difficulty navigating their way through the challenges of a foreign tongue as as they already spoke Ladino, a language also known as Judaeo-Spanish that had been passed down through the generations since their ancestors fled Spain as part of the mass expulsion of Jews in 1492.

Hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews left as a result of the Granada Edict - which offered them the choice of either leaving the country, converting to Christianity or being sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition - dispersing across the length and breadth of southern Europe and North Africa.

"The Spanish government’s law helps Sephardic Jews to close a circle, healing a wound that was opened 523 years ago. It helps me feel that my life forms part of history itself," said Mr Benveniste over the telephone from Buenos Aires.

The 57-year-old who, together with his wife Liliana, runs a cultural website called eSefarad.com, is enthusiastic about applying for Spanish citizenship, even though he does not intend to move to Spain and has already been able to visit the country.

"I see it as symbolic, a recognition of the barbarity which is persecution of a people for the form in which they profess their faith," Mr Benveniste explained, although he admitted that he has received “some inquiries from people whose main interest is to acquire a European passport”.

Expulsion of Jews from Spain, 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella being petitioned for mercy by some of those who are to be expelled

For the justice minister in Spain’s conservative Popular Party government, Rafael Catalá, the new law is meant to “open the door once again to those who were so unjustly expelled”.

“This rule says a lot about who we were, who we are and who we want to carry on being: an open, diverse and tolerant Spain,” the minister said on June 11, the day parliamentarians passed the law. It allows Sephardic Jews around the world to add Spanish nationality to their existing citizenship, as long as they can demonstrate good knowledge of Ladino or modern Spanish and show family surnames which demonstrate a link to the Jewish communities who once lived in Spain.

But while Jews are happy about the Spanish government’s gesture, many Muslims connected with the country feel that the law represents a selective take on history. As well as the Jews, the Catholic monarchs who united the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, also persecuted Muslims, especially after the 1492 fall of Granada, the last stronghold of Islam in Spain.

Those who stayed were forced to convert to Christianity and their descendants, known as Moriscos, were themselves subjected to a mass expulsion in the early 17th century.

“It is inexplicable that the Sephardic Jews receive this treatment and the Moriscos do not,” said Isabel Romero, president of the Junta Islámica (Muslim Council) association which defends Muslims’ rights in today’s Spain. “We would like to see a gesture of asking for forgiveness to give restitution to these Spaniards who were also expelled,” she explained.

Dr M’hammad Benaboud, a historian and president of the Moroccan Association for Andalusian Studies, says Moriscos such as himself do not want citizenship of Spain, but historical recognition. “We are not asking for Spanish nationality; I’m very happy with my Moroccan nationality. I don’t think that people should take advantage of historical injustices in this way.”

Dr Benaboud, a former university lecturer who speaks perfect English and can trace his own family back to the Spanish city of Córdoba, says it is important that today’s Spaniards remember the Moriscos and their contribution to the country’s culture. “It’s part of their history, but any acknowledgement should come from historians and not politicians.”

But Mr Benveniste, who is just one member of a large Sephardic community sprinkled across Latin America, justifies the connection which the law is making between a 21st-century state and Spain’s ancient Jewish roots. “They are not two different worlds. My ancestors were in Spain until the 16th century and I can feel that. I have a very strong relationship with Spain”.

How many people like Mr Benveniste might be taking up the offer of citizenship remains unclear. José Benarroch, who was brought up in Spain but who now lives in Israel where he is the president of the Worldwide Sephardic Union (USM), told the newspaper El País that between 100,000 and half a million people could theoretically apply for Spanish citizenship under the legislation.

But he said he expects the actual number of applications to be no more than 100,000, which, however, is still more than a symbolic figure given that Spain’s current Jewish population stands at just 40,000, according to the FCJE Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities.

Mario José Mañas López, president of the association Friends of the Andalucian Legacy, which defends the historical coexistence of different religions and peoples in the region, welcomes the law as an act of recognition towards the Jewish community but understands that the 50,000 or so Moriscos in North Africa might feel “left out”.

“They, the Moriscos, see that there is discrimination. One group of people who were expelled gains a right; the other does not,” he said.

Mr Mañas López does not see the point of giving out Spanish passports to descendants of either of these communities when the important thing is recognition of a historical wrong. “This law does not go to the root of the matter. What is required is an institutional admission of repentance.”

Mrs Romero said her association will continue to demand redress for the injustice suffered by the Moriscos. “It is a question of Spanish identity and we are Spanish Muslims, even though a lot of people seem to think that Spanish nationality and Islam are somehow incompatible."